The Eiger Sanction (1975) - Clint Eastwood

A spy thriller with a genuine desire to exhibit the physical difficulty and arduous albeit majestic nature of climbing.  Eastwood's infectious screen persona and sturdy direction make the film's overly complex conception and arguably un-focused nature continue to entice from beginning to end. Narratively speaking the film could certainly be called a tad unwieldy but it's just such a distinct, strange espionage film - amorphous in genre specificity while oozing with masculinity and low-key critique of the government's defense apparatus which operates in the shadows beyond the purview of the general public. What is so distinctive to me is how much this film feels like a climbing picture sculpted around the framework of a spy thriller. The film simply rejects genre classification, being an amalgamation of James Bond, Indiana Jones, and Cliffhanger that is engaging from start to finish thanks to the aforementioned Eastwood and largely comedic performance by George Kennedy. Playing up Eastwood's undeniable handsomeness, the film is also interesting in how it invokes the female gaze routinely, with Eastwood's masculine ego getting the best of him on two separate occasions, a perhaps subtextual commentary on male libido. George Kennedy for most of this movie is truly my spirit animal, he just wants to hang out and have some brews.